The Price Of A Smile
by palomino333
Summary: Post-Animated. During a visit back to Earth, Sari is kidnapped by Lockdown. Bumblebee finds help in the form of the jet twins, and uncovers a shocking conspiracy within the Elite Guard.


This was done for a friend. After seeing my two Ratchet/Arcee one-shot and my two Starscream/Alexis chapter fics, she was wondering if I could give Bumblebee/Sari a try. To tell the truth, I was out of fluff ideas, but I did want to try my hand at a serious plot again. I did some looking around for ideas on Deviantart, and found inspiration in ~mmatere's "Bumblebee vs Lockdown Animated" pic, and thus this pic was born. This takes place around the same time as my second Ratchet/Arcee one shot, which gives an explanation as to why Jetfire and Jetstorm are present to help Bumblebee, and Bulkhead is absent. I don't own Transformers or the deviation that inspired me, though I wish the artist well on whatever projects he will work on in the future.

"What am I gonna do, Dad?" Sari cried out frustratedly, burying her face in her hands.

Isaac let out a sigh, pulling his daughter into a hug, feeling completely helpless, much to his shame. It pained him deeply to see her once again left out because she was different from others. She'd fought tooth and nail to keep the Allspark's remains from falling into the greedy servos of the Decepticons, and what she received in return was utter disdain from the Autobots for being a technoorganic.

She'd arrived that afternoon with Bumblebee, and after coaxing him to give them a little time alone, Sari broke down and expressed her pent up anger and frustration from the last week to her father.

Though she had come home on an earlier occasion, she hadn't acted in this fashion, and when asked about that fact, contributed it to the novelty of exploring Cybertron (what limited space she could without being swiped from Bumblebee) and trying to understand her connection to the protoforms (using every possible inch the Elite Guard allowed her).

"You can stay with me tonight." he offered as he pulled out.

Her eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly, a grin spreading across her face.

Isaac felt a broad smile form on his own face from seeing her acting like herself again, and at the opportunity to nurture his daughter on his own again, if only for a little while.

Sari hadn't stayed over last time, for the previous engagement had served more as a status report.

"I'll tell Bumblebee!" she exclaimed cheerfully, activating her jet pack and zooming out of the tower, her father yelling after her to slow down, lest she crash.

XXXXXX

"Man, how long does it take those two to talk?" Bumblebee muttered, successfully completing his tenth lap around Sumdac Tower as he waited impatiently for his friend's return.

The yellow mech had missed Earth dearly, and was raring to race Sari around it for a while.

Even though it was better suited to Prowl to say, Earth currently was a lot better place to be than Cybertron.

Not only did he want to tour the peculiar planet for kicks, but he also wanted to have some time alone with Sari, just like the times they used to have on Earth.

With everyone (save for Optimus) being kept in close quarters in Omega Supreme, cabin fever was settling in roughly.

So was the feeling of being watched. That had become a daily occurrence outside of the ship.

Sari had oftentimes apologized to Bumblebee for the inconvenience she was causing him, but he honestly saw no reason for her to do so.

He'd dedicated himself to her protection because he cared for her deeply, more than he would want to express to anyone, save Bulkhead and Prowl, if he was still alive.

Bumblebee jerked to a halt with a sigh of exasperation. "Slaggit, Prowl! Why'd you have to die?!"

Though he had been a loner, the ninjabot would've been a good guide for the younger mech at this moment, given the current circumstances.

Bulkhead was the same age as Bumblebee, and had just recovered from his class name of mudflap, so his knowledge of relationships was as limited, if not more so, than Bumblebee's.

Ratchet was wrapped up with his ladybot, Arcee, and had less knowledge of organics than Prowl.

And sadly, though Optimus had been in a relationship before, he was being basically held captive from his friends by his new status as Magnus.

"Hey, Bumblebee!" He let out a cry of surprise as Sari landed on his roof.

He would've heard her coming if he hadn't had his processor in the clouds.

"Guess what? I'm sleeping over at Dad's tonight!"

He transformed, forcing her to lift off. "That's great! Party! Party!" he cheered, pumping his fist in the air.

Sari giggled, landing in his servo so he could whirl her around a little.

As he slowed down, she became serious again. "But we have to leave first thing in the morning, okay? The big 'Bots on Cybertron aren't gonna be happy with me being away for too long."

He waved his free servo dismissively. "Who cares? This is our time to have some real fun!"

"Yeah, but we wouldn't want Bulkhead to feel left out, now would we?" she asked, resting her chin on her palm and tilting her head with a quizzical expression on her face.

He conceded. "No."

"We'd better go call the others and tell 'em we'll be away for a while. Ya know, so nobody worries."

"About us? Yeah, right." Bumblebee replied sarcastically, earning a small smile from his friend.

XXXXXX

"Hey, quit shooting at me!" Jetstorm cried in frustration as his brother continued to do so, the orange mech's glossa held in concentration.

The two Elite Guard officers had said they wanted to go to Earth to learn more about the technoorganic, which was true, but they also wished to sample the planet's video games in the old Autobot base as well. For obvious reasons, they had left that part out.

They had decided to retreat here for a while after seeing her reunite with her parental organic, for they easily would have been detected by either the tower or Bumblebee, who wasn't too keen on prying optics.

In fact, the yellow mech had shooed them away before she noticed them there.

The twins could've pulled rank on him, but they just couldn't find it in themselves to do so.

However, they weren't stupid. A communications tower would contact them as soon as the two they were "monitoring" were beginning to cross back over.

"Well, shoot back, brother! Or do you want me to win again?" Jetfire teased.

Their playful banter was interrupted by the sound of a rather small and low to the ground jet engine whizzing by outside, followed right after by the sound of a car speeding after it.

"The technoorganic!" The twins cried out in unison, literally dropping everything to exit the base.

Surprise gripped them as they broke into the moonlight. They'd been in there longer than they'd thought.

"Where'd she go?" Jetfire asked.

His brother shrugged and suggested, "Let's split up. She'd couldn't've gone far."

"Right! I'll take north and east!"

"Hey, I wanted north and east!"

As the two got into a little argument, becoming unaware of the fact that their quarry was leaving, it became completely obvious that the two were getting nowhere fast.

XXXXXX

"I've sure missed this." Sari whispered from where she sat on Bumblebee's hood, leaning back on his windshield.

They were parked near the shore on Lake Erie, Bumblebee having suggested earlier for her to stretch her legs a little.

The view was rather breathtaking. The bright lights of the city of Detroit banished the stars away as they glowed in various spectacular shades of blue, yellow, orange, green, and red. Beyond the cinnamon-colored sand, lake's ebony surface, serving as the city's mirror, was occasionally rippled by the hulking boats passing across it, the groans of the ships bells of the buoys making a haunting mournful sound, contrasted by the lively sounds of car engines revving on the streets back on land. Further away from the city's reflection, the minute, milky points of stars could been seen on the water's surface. Further beyond that was the mysterious remains of Dinobot Island. Strange black shapes, silhouetted by the moon above, moved back and forth on its terrain. They were too far away for Bumblebee or Sari to determine if they were Dinobots or Constructions.

"If you think this is pretty, just imagine what the city's like!" Bumblebee exclaimed, revving his engine to display his level of excitement.

"You just looove the city, don't you?" she teased, putting her hands behind her head to make no indication of moving to leave.

"After that whole camping thing? Uh, yeah!" He realized too late what memory he'd brought up, and let out a sigh, echoed by one emanating from his friend.

"Prowl'd probably complain about Detroit's 'annoying lights' hiding the stars from view." Sari murmured as she thought back on him. After a few more moments, she began to feel tears falling on her face, and sniffed.

She felt one of Bumblebee's hands, gigantic compared to her own, stroking her hair.

"My fault. I didn't mean to bring it up." he comforted, willing her to stop crying.

She'd done far too much of that, and not nearly enough smiling these days.

"Aw, I think he deserves a better remembrance than that."

Sari's breath caught in her throat, and Bumblebee gave a start.

Transforming, he flung her into the air and caught her in his servos.

"A little warning next time?" Sari muttered testily, glaring up at her handler.

He, however, had his attention focused on the unwelcomed visitor standing before them.

Lockdown's crimson optics gleamed as he emerged from behind a rather damp clump of boulders that had tumbled down from the storm drain's foundation above. His hook switched to a poised position as he neared the pair, a cocky grin on his face.

"What the slag do you want?" Bumblebee growled as Sari peeked out between his fingers at this new menace with wide eyes.

The bounty hunter snapped his fingers on his good servo and then held it out, palm up, as he replied, "The technoorganic freak."

"Who're you calling a freak?!" Sari snapped as her friend bristled at the statement.

Lockdown laughed, lowering his hook back to his side. "Pitiful. Prowl would've leapt for my throat if he'd heard me say that."

"What makes you think I'm weaker than he was?!" the yellow mech challenged.

As Lockdown threw back his processor for a hearty laugh, Sari nodded up to her friend and took off with her jet pack, allowing him to release his stingers and leap for an attack.

His target regained control of himself and stepped out of the way, stopping the lunging mech by catching his throat with his hook. The hook's blade began to cut into the cables on his attacker's neck, releasing static electricity and energon.

"BUMBLEBEE!" Sari shrieked as the yellow mech made a gagging noise, flailing his arms about, stingers still drawn. Lockdown held him out at a safe distance, stifling a yawn with his servo.

"Now I've gotta clean my hook off. It's too bad this little mech's gonna die just because you won't come with me." the bounty hunter taunted Sari as he dug his hook further into the poor mech's neck, causing him to splutter and offline temporarily from the pain and energon loss. If she tried to attack Lockdown, he would merely drive it further in.

The image of her dear protector's fuchsia energon dribbling down onto the sickly white torture instrument while he hung helplessly immediately drove Sari to her decision. After gulping, she screamed as tears rained down her face, "Fine! I'll go with you! Just leave him alone!"

With an evil smile, he complied, dropping his captive to the ground in a heap. He then stepped toward her, his servo still extended, and coaxed in a fake gentle voice, "Well, get on, little protoform."

With a final glance down at Bumblebee, Sari complied, apologizing to her friend three times over in a tiny voice that was almost completely unintelligible beneath her sobs.

XXXXXX

"Brother, come quick!" Jetfire exclaimed into his com link, quickly rattling off the coordinates once Bumblebee came into view beneath him.

Quickly, the jet transformed and alighted on the ground, his servo carefully tilting the yellow mech's processor so he could get a better look at the wound.

It was deep, but only enough to offline him temporarily. However, the energon loss was concerning Jetfire. A puddle was currently growing next to the unmoving mech.

The young officer gave a sigh of relief as he heard Jetstorm transform and land behind him. Quickly, the blue mech rushed to the patient's other side, and carefully inspected the wound as Jetfire told him what he had found out already. Jetstorm then added his own evaluation, and the two came up with a diagnosis. Luckily, their required medical training did cover a wound such as this.

The two busied over Bumblebee after pulling medical tools from their subspace compartments, knowing very well how dire the situation had become with the technoorganic's disappearance, but not daring to voice it.

After a half hour of feverish waiting, Bumblebee onlined. "Where's Sari?" was the first question out of his mouth.

"We were going to ask you the same thing." Jetstorm responded.

Yellow fists clenched. "Slaggit! He took her!"

"Who?" they asked together.

"Lockdown! As soon as I find him, I'll-"

"As soon as WE find him. We can search the city twice as fast." Jetfire corrected.

"He's probably in his ship by now. And I think I know what's keeping him." Bumblebee snarled. This was just like when Optimus had been kidnapped, and that had been a close call. And now Sari? He wanted to unleash his rage on that disgusting fragger. How dare he touch her!

"We'll have to trace her energy sig-um, nevermind. I forgot the technoorganic doesn't have one." Jetstorm muttered sheepishly.

Bumblebee jumped up, yelling, "She has a name, you know!"

Jetfire slid in between the two. "Please, enough! Brother, you and I know that arguing with each other brings nothing!"

The blue mech nodded and apologized, though this caused no change in Bumblebee's attitude.

The orange mech then turned to the yellow one. "Did you see which direction Lockdown was going in?"

"Would I be standing here if I knew?"

"We'd better search fast. Brother, you take him." Jetstorm blasted off before another time-consuming argument could be made.

XXXXXX

"Don't cry. It's just business." Lockdown purred to his captive, who was currently strapped down on a transformer-sized operating table which dwarfed her comically. He'd just completed procuring her jet pack.

True, it was small, but a trophy was a trophy. He really had wanted to satisfy his curiosity and open up the little oddity before him for closer inspection, but doing so would kill her.

"Sure, taking my pack is part of that." she growled.

He laughed at her. "Might as well get comfortable. You're in good company."

"If my friends could get out of here, then so can I!" Unfortunately, Sari couldn't reinforce that statement. She'd tried to free herself with her powers before, but Lockdown had overtaken her. Whomever had ordered the hit on her had knowledge of her abilities.

Suddenly, an alarm went off in the ship. Lockdown looked confused for a moment, then scowled. "Care to tell me how many little friends you have?"

Muttering about how pointless this was, the bounty hunter stalked out of the room to check, leaving her alone to fear what would happen.

Usually things would be okay, but now?

Much to her surprise, the yellow mech appeared out of the darkness.

She gave a cry of happiness as he broke the restraints apart. "How'd you get here?"

"Jetfire and Jetstorm came to Earth after us. I got them to help me." Bumblebee replied, hugging her affectionately to his chest, a finger gently wiping her tears away.

His anger was ready to burst, but he contained himself as he searched for her jet pack.

Pounding began to sound as she slipped it back on. "Sounds like trouble!"

"Forget it! I'm not letting you get caught again!" he yelled.

She let out a sigh of defeat, looking over at the controls. "I'll try to land the ship. Please Bumblebee, be careful!"

After she flew away, he sped down the hallway to find Jetfire and Jetstorm being flung in opposite directions by Lockdown, each hitting a wall and collapsing to the floor with a groan.

"HEY!" The bounty hunter jerked around at Bumblebee's enraged tone.

The yellow mech's dentals were gritted, his stingers blazing with electricity.

Lockdown laughed. "Guess I underestimated you, pipsqueak."

That set the mech on him, tearing at him with stingers blazing. Lockdown carefully dodged his attacks, finding this time mocking would do no good. This little kid meant business. "Prowl taught you, didn't he?" the bounty hunter asked, ducking to avoid a sting and swiping with his hook.

"Nah. I'm just that good!" At that, the bounty hunter felt he couldn't move, and felt white-hot pain as a stinger collided with his side.

His look of surprise made Bumblebee laugh at him. "That's what you get, fragger!"

"There's no way you could've-Wait..." Looking down, he muttered, "You've gotta be slaggin' me." Jetfire was looking up at him with a mischievous smile, having cuffed the bounty hunter's stabilizing servos.

Jetstorm took advantage of Lockdown's distraction to spring on top of him and cuff his servos, but met the sting of Lockdown's hook.

"I'm not letting three little brats bring me down, got it?"

Jetfire ran to where his brother was sprawled on the floor, energon seeping from a slash wound across his chassis.

Bumblebee lashed out at Lockdown, but stopped short when the hook paused a mere inch from his throat.

"I really don't wanna have to repeat myself." the bounty hunter muttered irritatedly, slowly moving the hook upwards to trace over the yellow mech's chin and quivering lip.

In a flash, the hook hit Jetfire, tearing a straight line across his shoulders, leaving him to scream, and Bumblebee to stare in horror.

"You're testing my patience, kid. Either you get the slag off my ship, or this hook's goin' into you next, got it?"

He stubbornly shook his head. "Not without Sari!"

Bumblebee shuttered his optics to brace himself for the blow, but it never came.

Instead, Lockdown took one of his own, hitting the wall behind him and sinking to the floor. A second shot welded shut the cuffs he still wore.

"Let's see how you like being tied down," Sari muttered bitterly, lowering her hand and continuing in an excited tone, "We're on the ground! Let's blow this pop stand!"

Letting out a grunt, Jetfire got up, Jetstorm following with Bumblebee's help.

A nasty laugh emanated from the bounty hunter. "Why help one of them?"

"Does that mean the Elite Guard-" Sari started shakily, but was cut off.

"Who gives a slag? Let's get out of here!" Bumblebee snapped, speeding away with Jetstorm holding on for dear life.

XXXXXX

"I'm debating whether or not to hold an inquiry." Ratchet growled as he inspected Bumblebee's neck.

Sari had stopped home to tell Professor Sumdac that unfortunately she could not stay on Earth as well as to warn to him of Lockdown lurking about, and the four then returned to Cybertron, Jetfire and Jetstorm going to the Elite Guard infirmary, leaving the other two to once again board Omega Supreme.

It tore at Sari to let her father down, but she had had no choice.

"Against Jetfire and Jetstorm? No way!" Sari exclaimed, hopping up from where she was standing on the medical berth next to Bumblebee's servo.

"I wouldn't do that! Give me some credit!" Ratchet scolded, then continued, "I meant against the higher-ups. It's their fault this had happened to you."

"What do you mean?" Bulkhead asked from where he stood on the other side of the berth, worriedly watching the inspection.

"If they would've sent more guards to watch you two, none of this-" he stopped to point at Bumblebee's neck, "Would've happened."

"But they did send more of the Elite Guard to Earth, that would cause problems, right?" Sari asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not quite," Sari's puzzled expression turned to face Arcee, who was standing at the berth's front, "Some of the Elite Guard's members, Jazz for example, are more open-minded to organics, and still others are simply indifferent."

"But it's the few that slag things up for everyone, isn't it?" Bumblebee muttered.

She nodded. "Correct."

"I know that the Elite Guard's not very happy with Sari, but isn't ordering a hit on her going a little too far?"

Bumblebee gave Bulkhead a look. "A little? More like a lot!"

"Well, there is one member who worked with Lockdown before, and he's not too keen on organics." No one felt compelled to name the mech Ratchet was speaking of.

"But what was kidnapping me gonna do?" Sari muttered angrily.

"With Bumblebee out of the way, they could've done whatever they wanted with you, justifying it in the name of science. Optimus would've been powerless to stop them. And if Sentinel was the one to give you to them, he would've gotten some benefits from it." Ratchet replied in a bitter tone, his optics cold.

They were filled with warmth again when he looked back down at Sari. "Mark my words, I'm gonna speak to Optimus. He's gotta stand up for himself, or things'll only get worse."

He then looked at Bumblebee. "The neck's fine. Those two did a good job with it. We should all get some rest."

Arcee wished everyone a good night and followed Ratchet out of the room. Bulkhead let out a moan of agony and apologized for not being there, which Sari and Bumblebee assured him at least ten times that he was forgiven for. Finally, he left.

"Bumblebee?" Sari asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight? Pretty please?" she begged.

His faceplate lit up. "Sure, but on one condition."

"What's that?"

He held out his servo. "Climb on, and I'll tell you." She did so, and found herself in front of his faceplate as he said, "Smile."

Sari complied, and much to his surprise, flew off his servo and up to his cheekplate, giving it a kiss. "I promise you won't have to ask me next time." she pledged, a grin and rosy blush on her face


End file.
